7/21. The House Rules Committee adopted
an open rule for
consideration of
HR 2799,
the "Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Appropriations, 2004", also
known as the CJS bill. On July 16, the House
Appropriations Committee (HAC) approved the CJS appropriations bill. This
bill contains appropriations for most of the technology related executive branch
entities.

It provides $1.24 Billion for the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office
(USPTO), and continues the practice of diverting user fees to subsidize other
government programs.

It provides $279 Million for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), which is $2
Million below the President's request and $8 Million above the FY 2003
appropriation.

The HAC also added a rider offered by
Rep. David Obey (D-WI), that prohibits the use of funds
to grant licenses for a commercial TV broadcast station if the granting of that
license would result in such party having an aggregate national audience reach
exceeding 35%.

The bill provides, at Section 624, that "None of the funds in this Act may be
used to grant, transfer or assign a license for a commercial TV broadcast
station to any party (including all parties under common control) if the grant,
transfer or assignment of such license would result in such party or any of its
stockholders, partners, members, officers or directors, directly or indirectly,
owning, operating or controlling, or having a cognizable interest in TV stations
which have an aggregate national audience reach, as defined in 47 C.F.R.
73.3555, exceeding thirty-five (35) percent." (Parentheses in original.)

7/16. Members of the U.S. delegation to the International
Telecommunications Union's (ITU)
World Radiocommunications
Conference 2003 (WRC-03) spoke about the conference at an event on July 16.
Several items addressed by the conference pertain to wireless broadband
internet access, including allocating spectrum in the 5 GHz band for use by unlicensed
devices (including WiFi), and allocating spectrum for broadband access by
passengers and crew on commercial aircraft.

The delegates spoke at a luncheon in Washington DC hosted by the
Federal
Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Practice Committee
and the Computer & Telecommunications Law Section of the D.C. Bar Association.
The WRC-03 took place in Geneva, Switzerland from June 9 through July 4, 2003.

Unlicensed Devices. WRC-03
resolution
pertaining to spectrum for unlicensed devices provides "that this Conference has
allocated the bands 5 150-5 350 MHz and 5 470-5 725 MHz
on a primary basis to the mobile service
for the implementation of wireless access systems (WAS), including radio local
area networks (RLANs);".

It resolves "that the use of these
bands by the mobile service will be for the implementation of WAS, including RLANs,
as described in Recommendation ITU‑R M.1450" and "that in the band
5 150-5 250 MHz, stations in the mobile service shall be restricted to indoor
use with a maximum mean e.i.r.p.
of 200 mW and a maximum mean e.i.r.p. density of 10 mW/MHz in any
1 MHz band or equivalently 0.25 mW/25 kHz in any 25 kHz band;".
(Footnote omitted.)

Jennifer Manner, an assistant to FCC Commissioner
Kathleen Abernathy,
and a member of the U.S. delegation, stated that "we see this as a potential
third broadband pipe to the home".

Microsoft, which had representatives at the conference, released a
statement regarding the unlicensed devices resolution. It wrote that "This decision should significantly broaden the opportunities
for people to access information using unlicensed devices, such as Wi-Fi
wireless LANs. It is also likely to enable faster deployment of wireless data
services in locations where dial-up access is not practical."

Microsoft added that "Representatives from companies such as Microsoft, Intel, HP and Cisco
worked very closely with U.S. officials in the months leading up to the WRC",
and that "In the case of the radio spectrum and the U.S., Microsoft and its
technology industry partners will support the Federal Communications
Commission as it codifies the WRC decisions and allocates the radio spectrum
in the United States."

The U.S. delegates also discussed implementation at the July 16 luncheon.

Manner stated that "We actually did issue an NPRM on the unlicensed bands
on 5 GHz WiFi, in order
to send a signal that we want to move forward, and we are planning to move
forward as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, our
rule making process is fairly slow. Even in the best of situations you are
looking at a six month period, just because by the time you get comments, and
things published in the Federal Register, and then you draft an order, and
review the comments in the record. It just takes a while. So, I do think that
there is a commitment."

She added that "The big complicating factor here was a change, I think, in
our attitude on how we see WiFi in the U.S. It is an unlicensed device. Most
countries don't have unlicensed services. They required a mobile allocation to
be made. And then you had to have operation limits put on the operation. So
that was something we had to sell. We also had an issue of our manufacturers,
our commercial industry, wanted this to be used for both outdoors and indoors.
And the rest of the world is still concerned about interference. And we had a
lot of selling."

She elaborated on indoor versus outdoor use. "We were able to overcome the
indoor outdoor use prohibition, by putting in language that gave comfort to
countries that they did not have to allow outdoor use if they did not want to.
It is very similar to what we did at ITU 2000 a couple of years ago. Was, we
came up with an approach which basically says every country can decide for
themselves. So, if you are here in the United States, if the records reflects,
we may make that decision to allow outdoor use."

Broadband Services in Commercial Aircraft. The WRC-03 also approved
a secondary allocation for aeronautical mobile satellite services in the
14-14.5 GHz band for the provision of internet and other data
services on aircraft.

Audrey Allison of Boeing was a member of the
U.S. delegation. She stated
that Boeing is "going into commercial service early next year to provide real
time two way broadband services to aircraft passengers and crew. Like I said,
we are starting next year. We have got Lufthansa and SAS signed up. We are
also on government aircraft and business jets."

She continued that "there is one little flaw in our plan. And that was the
spectrum we planned to use for this service, which is an international service
by definition. In the international table of frequency allocations, it says
you cannot use it for aeronautical mobile satellite service. So, this is the
detail that I was hired to help resolve. And that is what I am doing in my
three year career so far with the Boeing company. It was my job to get the
U.S. and other western hemisphere countries to approve a change of the
regulatory status of the existing mobile satellite service allocation in the
Ku band."

She added that "All you had to do was cross out the words in the table
``excluding aeronautical mobile satellite´´".

7/19. The Department of Commerce (DOC)
released a
report [233 pages in PDF] titled "Education and Training for the Information
Technology Workforce: Report to Congress from the Secretary of Commerce".

Secretary of Commerce
Donald Evans stated in a
release that "In this
report, we lay out the landscape, with the hope that policymakers in government,
education, and business will find this information useful as they develop
education and training policies and programs designed to ensure a world-class IT
workforce for the United States ... We also hope that the information will help
make choices clearer for IT workers seeking skills and managing their careers,
and for employers seeking training for their workforce."

The Congress required the DOC to "conduct a review of existing public and
private high-tech workforce training programs in the United States", and to
"submit a report to Congress setting forth the findings of the study". See,
Section 115 of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000.
This is S 2045
(106th Congress), which became Public Law No. 106-313. President Clinton signed
the bill on October 17, 2000.

The primary purpose of this bill was to temporarily increase the annual cap
on the number of H1B visas, which are issued to, among others, high tech
workers.

The report reviews in detail information technology (IT) training programs in
four year colleges, masters programs, two year colleges, business schools, and
in a variety of non-academic settings. The report also reviews in detail what
employers are looking for when they hire IT workers.

The report finds that "Employers seek workers who possess a
specific combination of technical skills and experience, often coupled with a
college degree, soft skills, and business or industry knowledge. Typically,
employers prefer job candidates with the exact skill fit who require no
additional training."

"There is no single path to prepare a worker for a professional
IT job", the report states. "The IT education and training infrastructure has
grown significantly in size and scope over the past decade. Today, there is a
vast array of IT education and training opportunities, with different types of
programs and curricula serving different purposes."

Some of the report's specific findings identify weaknesses in IT training.
For example, the report states that "some IT workers who participated in this
review said that universities and colleges -- particularly public institutions
-- often have technical curricula, equipment, and software that are out of
date."

The report also states that "Another problem for IT education
and training providers is getting and retaining instructors skilled in the
latest or "hot" technologies who can teach these skills to students. Schools
have difficulty competing for these instructors against private companies that
can pay higher wages."

The report also found that "Employers can obtain the skilled IT workers they need either by
hiring workers who already have the skills or by training workers in those
skills. ... Surveys by the Information Technology Association of America and the
WSA (a large state-wide technology trade association based in Seattle) suggest
that, when faced with difficulties in finding workers with needed skills,
employers often do not consider training a high priority as a coping strategy."
(Parentheses in original.)

7/21. The U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR)
interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will hold a hearing to assist it
in preparing its annual report to the Congress on the People's Republic of
China's compliance with the commitments that it made in connection with its
accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The USTR also seeks written comments on numerous issues, including
intellectual property rights, and intellectual property enforcement.

The hearing will be held on September 18, 2003 in Room 1, 1724 F Street, NW,
and will continue from day to day until completed. Written comments are due by
12:00 NOON on September 10. Person wishing to testify must submit a written
request, along with their written comments, by 12:00 NOON on September 5. See,
notice in the Federal Register, July 21, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 139, at Pages
43247 - 43248.

Tuesday, July 22

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for morning hour and at 10:00 AM for
legislative business. It will take up HR 2800, the "Foreign Operations, Export
Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004". See,
Republican Whip Notice.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, and
Subcommittee on the Constitution, will hold a hearing on
HR 338,
the "Defense of Privacy Act". This bill would amend Title 5 to require that
when federal agencies promulgate rules, that they take into consideration the
impact of such rules on the privacy of individuals. The hearing will be
webcast. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or
Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

? 10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary
Committee might hold a hearing on several pending judicial nominations:
Steven Colloton (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit),
Henry Floyd (District of South Carolina), Brent
McKnight (Western District of North Carolina), David Proctor
(Northern District of Alabama), Kevin Castel (Southern District
of New York), Sandra Feuerstein (Eastern District of New York),
Richard Holwell (Southern District of New York), and Stephen
Robinson (Southern District of New York). Press contact: Margarita Tapia at 202
224-5225. This Committee frequently changes the time and agenda of its
meetings without notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Agriculture
Committee will hold a hearing on geographical indications and the World
Trade Organization's agricultural negotiations. Location: Room 1300, Longworth Building.

1:00 PM. The House Judiciary
Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a joint
hearing titled "The Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC)
and its Relationship with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security".
The witness will include John Brennan (Director of the TTIC), Larry Mefford
(Federal Bureau of Investigation), and Jerry Berman (Center for Democracy and
Technology). The hearing will be webcast. Location: Room 2118,
Rayburn Building.

3:00 PM. The National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will hold a
public briefing on its creation of a second level domain within the .us
country code domain that is restricted to material that is not harmful to
minors. This is required by the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002,
HR 3833
in the 107th Congress, Public Law No. 107-317. This
briefing will provide information about the domain, instructions about
registering a kids.us address, content guidelines and restrictions, and an
overview of the content review process. See,
NTIA
notice, and
notice in the Federal Register, July 17, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 137, at Pages
42401 - 42402. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

4:00 PM. The House Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Courts the Internet and
Intellectual Property (CIIP) will meet to mark up several bills, includingHR 2391,
the "Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) Act of 2003".
The meeting will be webcast. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or
Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. It may consider
HR 2739,
the "United States Singapore Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
HR 2738,
the "United States Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
and/or HR 2799, the "Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the
Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004".
See, Republican Whip
Notice.

9:00 AM. Day one of a two day meeting to the
Bureau of Industry and Security's
(Bureau of Export Administration) Information Systems Technical Advisory
Committee. Part of the meeting will be closed to the public. The agenda
includes discussion of export controls on signal generators and arbitrary
waveform generators, discussion of developments in micro-processors technology
and export controls, discussion of proposal on encryption in network
management, election of a new chairman, and secret matters. See,
notice in the Federal Register, July 8, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 130, at Pages
40626 - 40627. Location: Room 3884, Hoover Building, 14th St. between
Pennsylvania Ave. and Constitution Ave., NW.

9:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary
Committee will hold an executive business meeting. Press contact:
Margarita Tapia at 202 224-5225. This Committee frequently changes the time
and agenda of its meetings without notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:30 AM. The House Judiciary
Committee will meet to mark up several bills, including
HR 1417,
the "Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2003". The
meeting will be webcast. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or
Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary
Committee will hold a hearing on the nominations of Rene Acosta to
be an Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Civil Rights Division,
and Daniel Bryant to be an Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Office of Legal Policy. Press contact:
Margarita Tapia at 202 224-5225. This Committee frequently changes the time
and agenda of its meetings without notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. It may consider
HR 2739,
the "United States Singapore Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
HR 2738,
the "United States Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
and/or HR 2799, the "Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the
Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004".
See, Republican Whip
Notice.

9:00 AM. Day two of a two day meeting to the
Bureau of Industry and Security's
(Bureau of Export Administration) Information Systems Technical Advisory
Committee. Part of the meeting will be closed to the public. The agenda
includes discussion of export controls on signal generators and arbitrary
waveform generators, discussion of developments in micro-processors technology
and export controls, discussion of proposal on encryption in network
management, election of a new chairman, and secret matters. See,
notice in the Federal Register, July 8, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 130, at Pages
40626 - 40627. Location: Room 3884, Hoover Building, 14th St. between
Pennsylvania Ave. and Constitution Ave., NW.

2:00 PM. The The House Judiciary
Committee will hold a hearing titled "Antitrust Enforcement Agencies: The
Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Competition
of the Federal Trade Commission". The hearing will be webcast. Press contact:
Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

Friday, July 25

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. It may consider
HR 2739,
the "United States Singapore Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
HR 2738,
the "United States Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
and/or HR 2799, the "Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the
Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004".
See, Republican Whip
Notice.

The House is scheduled to begin its August recess.

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